Optique Nonlinéaire Théorique (ONT)

Membres de l'Unité - People

Etienne Averlant Thomas Erneux Gregory Kozyreff Paul Mandel Mustapha Tlidi Evgeny Viktorov Lionel Weicker

Etienne Averlant

Etienne Averlant graduated as a physicist in 2010 at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. The subject of his master thesis, under the supervision of Gregory Kozyreff, is "Spontaneous emission in a solar cell geometry".

He is currently doing a joint PhD in Physics at the Université Libre de Bruxelles under the supervision of Prof. M. Tlidi and in engineering sciences at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel under the supervision of Prof. K. Panajotov. He acknowledges a grant from VUB.

His research topics include: nonlinear dynamics, semiconductor laser physics, delay differential equations on spatially extended systems...

Publications

Contact: 02 650 5777, @.

Thomas Erneux

I received my Ph. D. in Chemistry in 1979 at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. Because there are interesting mathematical problems in Chemistry, I went to the US to study applied mathematical techniques (1979-80 Caltech, 1980 Northwestern University). In 1981, I did my military duty at the Royal Military School in Brussels where I learned what a thermal explosion is in in practice. Because I liked the US applied mathematical environment so much, I went back to Northwestern University now as a professor (1982-1993). I worked on a variety of bifurcation problems mostly in the area of chemical instabilities and laser instabilities. The latter became a source of many collaborations with Paul Mandel and I joined the ONT group in 1993. My current interests concentrate on nonlinear dynamical problems, and, in particular on delay differential equation problems in all areas of science and engineering. Preference is given to collaborative projects with experimental groups (Besançon, Rennes, Bruxelles). My favorite tools are combinations of numerical and analytical techniques. I have published two books and more than one hundred papers and I am a Senior Research Associate of the Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique. I teach bifurcation and asymptotic methods and their applications in laser physics, chemistry, and biology.

My hobbies concentrate on reading, listening music, walking or biking in my village, and playing with my grandchildren Julia and Mathieu.

Publications

Contact: 02 650 5819, @.

Gregory Kozyreff

I graduated as a physics engineer in 1997 at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. In 2001, I obtained a PhD with a thesis on nonlinear laser dynamics, under the supervision of Paul Mandel. From 2001 to 2004, I was as a post-doc at the Oxford Centre for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (OCIAM). There, I worked on a variety of mechanics and fluid problems in relation to the industry. From 2004 to 2008, I was a postdoctoral researcher with the Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique (F.R.S-FNRS). During that period, I was based in Brussels but also spent a year at ICFO-The Institute for Photonics Sciences, in Barcelona. Since 2008, I am a Research Associate of the F.R.S-FNRS.

I still enjoy active collaborations with people in OCIAM (Oxford) and ICFO (Barcelona), notably with Jordi Martorell's experimental group.

My research activities include: localized patterns in spatially extended system, optical instabilities, second harmonic generation in microresonators, solar cell modelling, and tree mechanics.

Publications

Contact: 02 650 5821, @.

Paul Mandel

After getting a Master in chemistry (yes, I tried but miserably failed inorganic analysis and organic synthesis) at the Université Libre de Bruxelles in 1965, I did a thesis under the supervision of Prigogine and obtained a Ph. D. in 1969 for research on renormalization in nonequilibrium statistical mechanics. After two years in plasma physics, I switched to laser physics in 1971 where I firmly remained since then. My scientific topics of interest are all related to cavity nonlinear optics. For about ten years, I worked on the quantum laser theory, then switched to semiclassical optics. In that area, I have been active in single mode laser instabilities, optical bistability, time-dependent control parameters, passive and active second harmonic generation and parametric down-conversion, multimode lasers, transverse problems, and gain without population inversion. Presently, I am active in modeling micro- and nano-lasers such as VCSELs and quantum dot lasers. I have published over two hundred and fifty scientific papers, a book on cavity nonlinear optics in 1997 (which has been reprinted as paperback in 2005) and a textbook on nonlinear optics in 2010. I am retired since October 2009 but continue some research activity.

When not working on physics, I am most likely to read a book, attend an opera performance, eat good food, taste a new chocolate or be on some exotic excursion. For books, my preferred topics include upper Middle Age Icelandic literature, Sumerian civilization, epics from all over the world and all times, and the analysis of myths and religions. Preferred operas are romantic, with Wagner and Puccini at the top of the list. I am very proud of my "Connoisseur in chocolate" degree. I enjoy cartoons where my hero is Gaston Lagaffe. Recently, I have been a contributor to the Wikipedia encyclopedia.

Publications

Contact: 02 650 5820, @.

Mustapha Tlidi

Mustapha Tlidi was born in Morocco. He received the M.D and PhD degrees in physics from the science faculty of the Université Libre de Bruxelles in 1989 and 1995 respectively in the Service de Chimie-Physique II under the supervision of Professor René Lefever.

From 1995 to 2002, he held a temporary position in the Service d'optique Nonlinéaire Théorique. Since October 2002, he is a Research Associate of the Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique. His research is focused on diffractive and dispersive nonlinear optics in one and more dimensions, including transverse pattern formation, localized structures or cavity solitons, light drops, domain growth in nonlinear optics, and space time instabilities in Kerr media, quadratic media, liquid crystals light valve, semiconductors.

Beside optics, he enjoys working in ecosystem problems such as the formation of vegetation patterns and localized patches in the arid and the semiarid landscape.

List of collaborations that lead to join publications: R. Lefever (ULB), M. Haelterman (ULB), Ph. Emplit (ULB), W.J. Firth (Glasgow, Scotland)), L.A. Lugiato (Milan, Italy), M. Leberre (Paris, France), P. Couteron (Montpelier, Water and Forest institute, France), K. Satliunas (Barcelona), A.G. Vladimirov (St Petersburg, Berlin), M. Taki (Lille, France), P. L. Ramazza (Florence), S. Coen (NZ).

Publications

Contact: 02 650 5905, @.

Evgeny Viktorov

Publications

Lionel Weicker

Lionel Weicker graduated as a physicist in 2010 at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. The subject of his master thesis, under the supervision of Prof. T. Erneux, is "Single and coupled optoelectronic oscillator dynamics".

He is currently doing a joint PhD in Physics at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel under the supervision of Prof. T. Erneux and Prof. J. Danckaert. He also collaborates with the group of Laurent Larger from the Université de Franche-Comté (Besançon, France). Lionel Weicker acknowledges a grant from FRIA.

His research topics are nonlinear dynamics, optoelectronic oscillator, delay differential equations,...

Publications

Contact: 02 650 5777, @.